Figures obtained by Labor under freedom of information show that three years into a 10-year program, just 320 of 1700 buses have been fitted with seatbelts. 

The government committed to the roll-out in 2013, after nine-year-old Singleton boy Harry Dunn was killed when his school bus collided with a truck. 

Medowie Christian College principal Simon Herd said the situation had become so desperate the school was considering providing its own bus service with seatbelts instead of using a contractor.

“I’m currently doing some due diligence on a business model for what that would require, whether it’s something that’s achievable,” Mr Herd said. “Certainly it would present financial challenges to our school.” 

Member for Port Stephens Kate Washington said it appeared the only thing that would make the government move faster was another fatality. 

She described the children as “sitting projectiles” as their buses hurtled down the Pacific Highway.

Ms Washington said many school bus routes in the Hunter would be missing out on seatbelts altogether, including from places like Medowie to Newcastle, because they were not classified as “regional”. 

It is understood the difficulty posed by retro-fitting old school buses, which were not designed for seatbelts, has been partly to blame for the delays. 

Mr Herd said he was having two or three “strong” conversations with parents each term who were fearful for their children’s safety. 

“Parents put their kids on the bus in the morning expecting to see them come home again,” he said. 

“It’s a simple lesson in physics.

“If a child is standing on a bus, in an emergency stop they’re going to continue travelling forward at whatever speed that vehicle is doing until they hit something.”

“That might be a steel bar, that might be the windscreen. But it’s going to be a tragic event. It doesn’t matter if it’s 80kmh or 60kmh.”